Answering every question on Google that starts with "Why is Bitcoin..." from A through H - PART 1/3

March 02, 2019

This is every suggested Google search term starting with "Why is Bitcoin...A through H" answered as simple as possible. You will notice that the question "Why Bitcoin is falling" has a million variations. It will mostly be covered in the first paragraphs.

Part 1 of 3, A through H

Why is Bitcoin a...

1. Why is Bitcoin anonymous: Bitcoin's ledger is public, meaning anybody can see that a certain address sent a certain amount to another address. To an observer, these addresses are just numbers and letters mixed together, no usernames or real names. Bitcoin is not entirely anonymous, because it's still possible to tie people to certain addresses, but it costs a lot of money and effort.

2. Why is Bitcoin a thing: Because banks lost our trust. Also, because we need an asset that counterbalances ever inflating fiat currencies.

3. Why is Bitcoin a bubble: Because people sometimes like to FOMO, therefore driving prices up to unreasonable heights. You could argue, that Bitcoin has not yet turned out to be a bubble, because prices usually go (close) to zero after a bubble pops. That has not yet happened to Bitcoin.

4. Why is Bitcoin a currency: Currency is a more specific term for money, usually created by higher authorities like states or nations. It is widely debated whether cryptocurrencies are currencies in the classical sense. You can say for sure, that Bitcoin is money, because it is accepted in exchange for goods and services.

6. Why is Bitocoin a bad investment: Statistically, most people that try to trade lose money. In each cycle, the price of Bitcoin fell around 85% after reaching new all time highs. You also have higher risks of hacks if you are using exchanges, as opposed to storing your money at a bank. Banks do get hacked (or robbed), but they are insured.

7. Why is Bitcoin a commodity: The legal status of Bitcoin is different in different countries. In the US, several courts have ruled Bitcoin to be a commodity, however, the exact legal definition is widely disputed.

8. Why is Bitcoin a store of value: Bitcoin is limited to 21 million, as opposed to fiat currencies, which are being printed continuously by central banks. Simply put: when there is a lot of something, it loses value. On the other hand, when there's demand for something that is limited or rare, it'll rise in value. Bitcoin is trying to mimic gold in regards to scarcity, which results in an asset that rises in value as more people are using it.

9. Why is Bitcoin allowed to exist: That's the beauty of Bitcoin, you can't disallow it, censor it, prohibit it or conquer it. The network consists of nodes, that move wherever they can connect to the internet (which is pretty much anywhere nowadays). If you were to target and destroy nodes, they would just spring up somewhere else. There are even satellites involved in streaming the blockchain.

10. Why is Ethereum and Bitcoin dropping: This will be a reoccurring question. Reasons for drops are people selling large amounts of coins at once. If that happens during a phase where general trading volume is low, the price move might be quite significant. It's important never to panic when prices drop suddenly, which happens quite frequently, even during times of good news and generally good sentiment.

Why is Bitcoin b...

1. Why is Bitcoin bad: Bitcoin in and of itself is not bad. Just like cash, people use it for illegal activities. The main disadvantage of (pseudo-) anonymous cryptocurrencies, is that criminals can launder, store and spend money much easier than with cash.

2. Why is Bitcoin better than money: Bitcoin is money. However, when people talk about money, they usually refer to fiat money. Bitcoin is better than fiat money, because it's decentralized, easily exchangeable, easily verifiable, easy to transport and it does not lose value through inflation. Also, no one on the network can seize your Bitcoin, unless they have access to your private keys.

3. Why is Bitcoin bad for the economy: An often overlooked problem with the nature of Bitcoin, is that you cannot build an entire society on an asset that is supposed to increase in value. It's very simple: If your money appreciates in value, you won't invest as much, because you are expecting it to rise in value. You also won't spend as much, if you expect to be able to spend more tomorrow, which can also hurt the economy.

4. Why is Bitcoin better than gold: Bitcoin is better than gold in many regards: it outperformed gold as an investment since its inception, it's easier to transport, easier to store and easier to verify. The supply of Bitcoin is capped to 21 million, whereas the supply of gold might increase significantly if we manage to find more gold somewhere, or improve technology that collects and mines gold. It's also far less dangerous to mine Bitcoin than actual gold. However, physical gold has actual, inherent value, because it's being used in the industry (computer chips, isolation).

5. Why is Bitcoin banned in China: China has a history of banning websites. Likewise, a payment system that circumvents KYC laws and regulations will not be tolerated. This stance might change quickly, once governments realize, or learn, how they can use the public ledger of Bitcoin to their advantage. Also: You can't really ban it entirely. People can still store Bitcoin privately without anyone finding out. A lot of mining is done in China as well. Drugs are banned in China too, that doesn't mean they don't exist.

6. Why is Bitcoin better than Ethereum: Bitcoin is trying to solve a different problem than Ethereum, so you are comparing apples and oranges. Bitcoin is trying to be a censorship resistant, decentralized peer-to-peer payment system, whereas Ethereum is trying to be more like a "world computer", the basis for all decentralized apps. The amount of Ethereum tokens (ETH) is not (yet) capped, as compared to the 21 million cap of Bitcoin, which might play a role in future price developments.

7. Why is Bitcoin banned: Overall, the amount of nations that accept Bitcoin is higher than the amount of nations that banned it. You can't really ban Bitcoin anyway, any attempts to destroy it failed so far.

8. Why is Bitcoin block time 10 minutes: Block time is the time it takes to mine a Bitcoin block. "The expected block time is set at a constant value to make sure, miners cannot impact the security of the network by adding more computational power". Check out the source of this quote for a full explanation on block times and Proof of Work (PoW).

9. Why is Bitcoin better than Litecoin: Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin. That means someone took the Bitcoin code, changed the rules to some extent and continued its own blockchain with other rules. Since the numbers of users for Bitcoin are higher, it appears to be "better". Some people like Pepsi, some people like Coke

10. Why is Bitcoin becoming popular: Some people flock to Bitcoin because its price increase, some people buy Bitcoin because they hate banks. Other reasons include transferring money across borders with less fees, storing once wealth in an asset that does not inflate and being able to exchange goods and services in an economy without a functioning monetary system. It's also an opportunity for anybody who was denied a bank account, to participate in the digital economy.

Why is Bitcoin c...

1. Why is Bitcoin crashing: When cryptocurrency prices are dropping 20-30% in a matter of minutes, or even seconds, crypto enthusiasts usually see the armageddon coming fairly quickly. FUD is the key suspect here. If news come out that might mean the end (or a speedbump) for Bitcoin, people might start to sell, and others might start to follow. Sometimes, especially in times of low trading volume, algorithms and bots can be the cause for a mayor price decline. Sometimes, it's just people taking profits. Keep in mind that Bitcoin declined by an average of approximately 85% each time it hit new all time highs, but it always bounced back.

2. Why is Bitcoin Cash dropping: Bitcoin Cash (BCH, sometimes BAB or BCHAB) is a fork of the original Bitcoin (BTC) network, meaning it shared the same history, but changed the rules at some point. The price of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) might drop for the same reasons the price of Bitcoin (BTC) drops. The price movements of BTC and BCH are usually negatively correlated, meaning one goes down when the other goes up. Sometimes, new features are implemented on BTC (or BCH), which might make some people switch sides, hence the negative correlation.

3. Why is Bitcoin crashing today: Most of the time it's just bots trading, keep that in mind, some bots might "go crazy" if unusual price patterns emerge. If you try to trade very single crash or major increase, you increase your risk.

4. Why is Bitcoin crashing right now: You probably won't find the reason why Bitcoin is crashing "right now" on Google. If it's significant, it will appear on crypto news sites, cryptopanic or other news aggregators after an hour or so.

5. Why is Bitcoin Cash crashing: For the same reasons Bitcoin crashes from time to time.

6. Why is Bitcoin crashing Reddit: People oftentimes google Bitcoin in combination with Reddit, because Reddit is one of the most popular forums where Bitcoin is being discussed.

7. Why is Bitcoin Cash falling: We probably covered this enough.

8. Why is Bitcoin Cash forking: Everybody is free to create his own fork. If you believe the blockchain should be saved on toilet paper, you can go ahead and fork any existing network and start broadcasting transactions on toilet paper. Just as Bitcoin Cash (BCH) forked from Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Satoshis Vision (BSV) forked from Bitcoin Cash (BCH or BAB) and sparked an entirely new debate. Just stick to BTC.

9. Why is Bitcoin Cash down: Price movement has been covered in the previous points. If by down, you mean the entire network, it could be due to a 51% attack. Since (all versions of) BCH and BTC share the same network structure, 51% attacks can happen to all of them. Due to the fact, that the other networks are smaller than the BTC network, 51% attacks are cheaper on those tokens, which makes BTC a safer bet when it comes to 51% attacks. BCH has prevailed those attacks in the past though, just like BTC.

10. Why is Bitcoin capped to 21 million: Bitcoin is trying to mimic gold in terms of scarcity. Anything that's rare and highly demanded, becomes valuable. Bitcoin trumps gold in terms of scarcity, because we might be able to access far more gold at some point in the future. The other reason apart from mimicking gold is opposing an inflationary fiat money system. The dollar is bound to decrease in value if its supply increases, it's inevitable, and even desired (2% inflation target).

Why is Bitcoin d...

1-10. Why is bitcoin dropping/declining/dying: As mentioned before, sudden price declines happen over and over. In a bear market, it always looks like it's never going up again, only till it starts looking like it's never going down again. Don't panic and keep your emotions out of investing. Check the previous answers for more details.

Why is Bitcoin e...

1. Why is Bitcoin expensive: Expensive is relative. If you want to learn a little bit about technical analysis, I recommend Investopedia for beginners. Technical analysis helps you learn about indicators, a popular one being the Relative Strength Index (RSI). A low RSI indicates an oversold stock, a high RSI indicates a overbought stock (or crypto/token). Bitcoin declined roughly 85% after reaching an all time high of around $20,000, which set the RSI to a level below 30. Historically, Bitcoin always bounced back after reaching that point.

2. Why is Bitcoin ETF important: Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) are designed to follow the price movement of a certain index, commodity or number of stocks. Some people argue, that an ETF does not actually do anything for the adoption of Bitcoin. Others say, that only through investments of institutional investors, or "big money", who often use ETFs, people will start having a stake and therefore actual interest in the industry. Once the SEC grants approval, which is only a matter of time, more players will get into the market.

3. Why is Bitcoin ETF: To give institutional investors the opportunity to invest in an asset without the custodial risks.

4. Why is Bitcoin so expensive: Over 10 years of development, increasing adoption and acceptance led to the price you are seeing right now.

5. Why Bitcoin [needs] energy: The Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism that Bitcoin runs on, consumes energy, because computers have to solve puzzles. The purpose is, that people cannot spam the network with free transactions. It is oftentimes mentioned, that Bitcoin consumes as much energy as some smaller countries. While that is true, it also is relative. Ask yourself, how much energy and resources banks and their employees consume? Furthermore, Bitcoin miners oftentimes use energy from hydro plants. Hydro plants are usually not running on full capacity, and are therefore making pure profit when collaborating with miners. Miners on the other hand, get clean energy to do the PoW.

6. Why Bitcoin [needs] electricity: Because computers that do the PoW (solving puzzles to mine Bitcoin) need electricity to run.

7. Why Bitcoin [has] energy consumption: An important aspect of energy consumption and Bitcoin is the difficulty. Basically, the puzzles that are being solved for PoW can have different difficulties. If you ask a computer, what numbers you have to multiply to get 4, you'll get the answer in an instant. If you ask the same question for the number 831249192792, it's harder to find out. The bigger the network gets, the higher the difficulty, and therefore the energy consumption.

8. Why is Bitcoin better than Ethereum: Bitcoin an apple, Ethereum is an orange. They have different merits, different goals, different approaches. In the end, both will find their niche.

9. Why Ethereum Bitcoin: Not sure what that means.

10. Why earn Bitcoin: Acquiring Bitcoin can help you fight inflation. If you can spend your Bitcoin without inconvenience, with a crypto credit card for instance, you might even prefer to be paid in Bitcoin. Holding cash will not bring you any returns, guaranteed.

Why is Bitcoin f...

1-7. Why is Bitcoin falling (today/so much/now): Clearly, this is the most popular question. Check "Why is Bitcoin c..." and "Why is Bitcoin d...".

8. Why is Bitcoin finite: To offer people a store of value which won't lose value through inflation. Scarcity increases value.

9. Why is Bitcoin falling down: See above

10. Why is Bitcoin famous: Popularity of Bitcoin grew mostly through word of mouth. People love Bitcoin because it works, it doesn't discriminate against anybody, it's not exclusive and it's an alternative to banks.

Why is Bitcoin g...

2. Why is Bitcoin good: Anybody can use it, the network operators cannot seize it from you, it's easy to transport and transfer, it's scarce, it's unforgeable and it's an asset with growing acceptance all around the world.

3. Why is Bitcoin going up: When there's more demand than supply, price goes up. The cycles that I mentioned before play a role as well, just like good news in general, apps or projects that push adoption (like DigiPiglets.com) and when authorities communicate a favorable position towards Bitcoin or crypto.

4-7. Why is Bitcoin going down...: See above

8. Why is Bitcoin Gold going up: Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is one of the lesser known forks of the original Bitcoin (BTC). I recommend staying away from it.

9. Why is Bitcoin going up today: You probably won't find that answer on Google.

10. Why is Bitcoin Gold falling: Smaller coins and forks tend to drop harder than more established projects. Be wary and never risk too much with little known projects.

Why is Bitcoin h...

1. Why is Bitcoin haram: "Haram" is arabic for sinful. Bitcoin is a means of exchange. A means of exchange in and of itself cannot be sinful. The way people use it may be sinful, but that is true for absolutely everything. Bottom line is: don't mix religion and finances.

2. Why is Bitcoin halving: Bitcoin miners get rewards for mining. That reward is being halved every four years. That way, it's ensured that there will still be Bitcoin left to mine in the next 100 years. Since it doesn't happen unexpectedly, but rather mechanically, you should not worry about halving too much.

3. Why is Bitcoin higher on Bitfinex: In well established markets, arbitrage is common which levels prices. That means, market participants can still profit from arbitrage, meaning they buy on exchange X and sell on exchange Y for a higher price. With more Bitcoin users, the price will become more stable. Also, better developed bots and algorithms will soon use up every last bit of arbitrage opportunity, giving us more equalized prices.

4. Why is Bitcoin hash rate so high: The hash rate of Bitcoin is a result of all the mining activity. The more nodes and users, the higher the hash rate. With a higher hash rate, the security of the network rises. The problem is a higher difficulty level for miners and higher energy consumption.

5. Why is Bitcoin high: This question probably refers to the price level, and has been covered in the previous points.

6. Bitcoin [does] hard fork: Hard forks have been covered as well, Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) being the most prominent ones. There probably won't be many hard forks on Bitcoin in 2019 and later, as the network is not considered the highest standard.

7. Why is Bitcoin so high: See above.

8. Why is Bitcoin Cash hard fork: The Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) proponents could not agree on technical specifications, like block size, and the value proposition behind the network. Store of value or peer-to-peer cash system? BTC seems to be focussed on the former, BCH on the latter.

9. Why Bitcoin has value: Simply because people attribute wealth to it. It's important to understand the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic value. Something you can eat or utilize in a productive way, has intrinsic value. We don't use those things as means of exchange, simply because we are using them otherwise. Extrinsic value however, is when people attribute value to stones, shells, trophies, coins and other random stuff. We will always use something with no intrinsic value as means of exchange. The perfect means of exchange cannot be stolen or seized easily, cannot be forged, can be transported around the world in large quantities, can be stored safely and can be used by anyone. Bitcoin comes closer to these goals than any other means of exchange we've used so far

10. Why Bitcoin has dropped: People will never fully agree on one price, so it will always rise and drop.

The information in this Blog is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice. I am not a financial advisor. Please do your own research before making any investment decisions. Online and cryptocurrency investments are a volatile and high risk in nature. Don't invest more than what you can afford to lose. DigiPiglets.com is a project aimed to encourage people to start saving money, learnabout the crypto sphere and getto know how Bitcoin works, without risking a lot of money.